Event Reservation Expiry
When Cognivox creates an event reservation that requires payment, the booking initially has the status:
Awaiting Payment
The requested event and option capacity is reserved immediately so that it cannot be allocated to another customer.
An unpaid reservation cannot hold capacity indefinitely.
Cognivox therefore gives the reservation an expiry time.
If the required payment is not recorded before the reservation expires, the reservation can be marked as expired and its reserved capacity released.
Why Reservation Expiry Is Necessary
Consider an event with only one Single Room remaining.
A customer reserves that room but does not complete payment.
While the reservation remains active, Cognivox must treat the room as unavailable to other customers.
Without an expiry mechanism, that unpaid reservation could prevent anyone else from booking the room indefinitely.
Reservation expiry ensures that capacity held by an unpaid reservation can eventually be returned to availability.
Awaiting Payment
A newly created chargeable reservation normally begins with:
Status: Awaiting Payment
This means:
- The reservation has been created
- A booking reference has been generated
- The required attendee capacity is being held
- The required option capacity is being held
- Payment is still outstanding
- The booking is not yet fully confirmed
The distinction between Awaiting Payment and Confirmed is important.
An Awaiting Payment reservation has reserved capacity, but payment has not yet completed the booking.
Reservation Expiry Time
Each Awaiting Payment reservation can have a date and time at which the reservation expires.
For example:
Reservation Expires: 26 August 2026 at 14:30
Until that time, the required capacity remains reserved unless the booking is paid or otherwise changed.
The reservation expiry period is determined by the Cognivox booking configuration.
Temporary Reservation Period
The reservation period controls how long Cognivox holds capacity while waiting for payment.
The configured period may be changed according to the needs of the booking process.
A longer reservation period gives the customer more time to arrange payment.
A shorter reservation period returns unpaid capacity to availability more quickly.
When changing the reservation period, consider:
- How customers are expected to pay
- Whether payments require manual processing
- How quickly an event is likely to sell out
- How scarce particular options are
- How long it is reasonable to hold capacity without payment
Capacity During the Reservation Period
While the booking is Awaiting Payment, its capacity counts as Reserved.
For example, suppose the event initially has:
Capacity: 100
Reserved: 3
Confirmed: 50
External: 10
Available: 37
A new reservation is created for two attendees.
The event then becomes:
Capacity: 100
Reserved: 5
Confirmed: 50
External: 10
Available: 35
Those two attendee places are now being held for the customer.
Option Capacity Is Also Reserved
The selected option's capacity is reserved at the same time.
For example, suppose the customer books:
Attendees: 2
Option: Double Room
Units: 1
The reservation consumes:
- 2 attendee places from the overall event capacity
- 1 Double Room unit from the option capacity
Both remain reserved while the booking is Awaiting Payment.
What Happens When Payment Is Received?
If sufficient payment is recorded before the reservation expires, the booking can become:
Confirmed
The occupancy then moves from Reserved to Confirmed.
For example:
Before payment
Reserved Attendees: 2
Confirmed Attendees: 40
After confirmation
Reserved Attendees: 0
Confirmed Attendees: 42
The overall occupied capacity remains the same.
The same principle applies to option occupancy.
The capacity was already held for the customer, so confirming the booking does not consume it again.
What Happens When a Reservation Expires?
If an Awaiting Payment reservation reaches its expiry time without being confirmed, Cognivox can expire the reservation.
The capacity held by that reservation is then released.
This includes:
- Reserved attendee capacity
- Reserved option capacity
The released capacity can then become available to other customers.
Example — Releasing Attendee Capacity
Suppose an event has:
Capacity: 100
Reserved: 5
Confirmed: 70
External: 10
Available: 15
One of the Awaiting Payment reservations represents two attendees.
If that reservation expires:
Reserved: 3
Confirmed: 70
External: 10
Available: 17
Two attendee places have returned to availability.
Example — Releasing Option Capacity
Suppose the Single Room option has:
Capacity: 10
Reserved: 2
Confirmed: 7
Available: 1
One of the reserved Single Rooms belongs to a reservation that expires.
After expiry:
Capacity: 10
Reserved: 1
Confirmed: 7
Available: 2
The room can now be offered to another customer.
Automatic Expiry Processing
Cognivox can check periodically for reservations that have reached their expiry time.
An eligible reservation is one that is still:
Awaiting Payment
and whose reservation expiry time has passed.
When Cognivox processes the expired reservation, the associated reserved capacity is released.
This means administrators do not normally need to release every expired reservation manually.
Confirmed Bookings Do Not Expire as Unpaid Reservations
The reservation expiry process applies to bookings that remain Awaiting Payment.
Once a booking has been successfully paid and changed to:
Confirmed
it should no longer be treated as an unpaid reservation awaiting expiry.
Its capacity remains allocated as Confirmed occupancy.
Expired Status
A reservation that has passed through the expiry process can have the status:
Expired
This indicates that the original temporary reservation is no longer holding capacity.
An Expired booking is different from:
- Awaiting Payment
- Confirmed
Its previous capacity has been released.
Late Payments
Take care when dealing with payment received after a reservation has expired.
Once a reservation has expired, the capacity it previously held may have been made available to another customer.
For example:
- A customer reserves the final Single Room.
- The reservation expires without payment.
- Cognivox releases the Single Room.
- Another customer reserves that room.
- The original customer's payment arrives late.
The original reservation cannot simply be assumed to have the room available again.
The event and option availability should be reviewed before deciding how the late payment should be handled.
Do Not Assume Expired Capacity Is Still Available
An expired reservation records what the customer originally requested, but it no longer guarantees that the requested capacity is available.
Other bookings may have consumed the released capacity.
Always check the current event and option availability when dealing with an expired reservation.
Reservation Emails and Expiry
The reservation confirmation email can tell the customer that:
- Their reservation has been created
- Payment is still required
- Their booking reference
- The reservation expiry time
- Capacity may be released if payment is not completed in time
This helps make it clear that the reservation is not yet a fully confirmed booking.
Changing the Reservation Period
The reservation duration is a system configuration decision rather than part of the individual event capacity.
Changing the configured reservation period affects how long new unpaid reservations are held.
For example, the system could be configured to hold reservations for a longer period while payments are being handled manually.
When automated online payment processing is introduced, a shorter payment window may be more appropriate.
Reservation Expiry and External Attendees
Reservation expiry only releases capacity belonging to the expiring Cognivox reservation.
It does not change:
External Attendees
External Attendees are maintained separately because they represent places allocated outside Cognivox.
For example:
Before expiry
Reserved: 2
Confirmed: 50
External: 10
After the two-person reservation expires
Reserved: 0
Confirmed: 50
External: 10
The External figure remains unchanged.
Reservation Expiry and Recalculate Occupancy
The Recalculate Occupancy facility can rebuild Reserved and Confirmed occupancy from the underlying booking records.
An Expired booking should not contribute to current Reserved or Confirmed occupancy.
Recalculation does not alter External Attendees.
Monitoring Awaiting Payment Bookings
The Event Bookings area can be used to identify reservations that remain Awaiting Payment.
When reviewing these bookings, useful information includes:
- Booking reference
- Customer
- Event
- Booking status
- Total price
- Amount paid
- Balance remaining
- Reservation expiry time
This helps administrators understand which reservations are still waiting for payment.
Reservation Expiry Summary
The reservation lifecycle can be summarised as:
- Customer requests an event booking.
- Cognivox checks availability.
- Reservation is created.
- Required capacity becomes Reserved.
- Booking status becomes Awaiting Payment.
- Reservation expiry time is set.
- If sufficient payment is received, the booking becomes Confirmed.
- Reserved occupancy moves to Confirmed occupancy.
- If payment is not completed before expiry, the reservation can become Expired.
- Reserved attendee and option capacity is released.
Next Step
The event configuration and booking lifecycle are now in place.
The next help article explains Handling Event Enquiries with Cognivox, including how Cognivox identifies events, explains packages and options, checks availability, establishes attendee and unit requirements, and progresses an enquiry towards a reservation.